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Section: Religions and cults
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Christianity, the
Cults and Other Religions:
Non-Christian
Cults
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The Moonies
The proper name for this cult is The Holy Spirit Association
for the Unification of Christianity, or Unification Church
for short. Its nickname relates to its founder, Rev. Sun Myung
Moon, a Korean, who established the group in 1954.
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Rev & Mrs Moon |
Although it calls itself a church, the cult
is not Christian at all. Moon had a Christian background but
was led astray by visions unrelated to the truth of the Bible.
He came to see himself as the new messiah, but was more than
once accused of immoral practices. Certainly he made a lot of
money from his weapon-manufacturing business. In 1957 he published
his religious views in Divine Principle.
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| The cult expanded during the 1970s,
especially in America, but now seems to be on the wane. In 1982 Moon served
an eighteen-month prison sentence in the USA, along with a stiff fine, for
tax evasion. The appeal of the Moonies has been particularly
to young people, who are drawn away from their parents and brainwashed
into making money for the cult.
The Unification Church uses the Bible only in order to draw
Christians to itself. It believes that, once the Christian church
is absorbed, the Bible can be dispensed with, because Moon's
Divine Principle is a book of far superior spiritual value. Similarly,
Moon regards himself as superior to Jesus Christ.
Not surprisingly in the light of this, the cult's doctrines
are anti-Christian. God is not personal. Jesus was just another
man, though sinless. He was to have taken a bride in the place
of Eve and to have produced perfect children. But he failed,
being crucified before he could marry. The Holy Spirit is female.
Jesus will not personally return as he is already here in the
person of the Rev. Moon, whose influence will unify all things,
so that everyone will eventually be saved.
Scientology
Lafayette Ron Hubbard, the founder of The Church
of Scientology, was born in Nebraska, USA, in 1911. He spent
time in the Far East, where he explored both Asian religion and
the workings of the human mind.
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Recovering from a period of ill-health, he
published what he saw as the reasons for his recovery in Dianetics:
The Modern Science of Mental Health, which dealt with the
subconscious. His views caught on and the Church of Scientology,
formed in 1952, grew rapidly. It appealed to young people, especially
wealthy young people, and the cult itself became extremely wealthy.
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L. Ron Hubbard |
| It is now well-established that Hubbard was a conscious
fraud, a drug addict and a dabbler in the occult. His writings were
produced, not out of years of study, as he claimed, but as the result of
drug-induced trances. He died in California in 1976, yet millions continue
to be deceived by his writings. God, in Scientology,
is whoever you want him to be. Jesus is rarely mentioned, though
acknowledged as a great teacher. The Bible is just one of many records of
man's search after the truth. The only final authority is Hubbard and his
writings.
Human beings are trapped in material bodies and need to be
released to achieve their original god-like state. Scientology practitioners
are available to help people achieve this, charging extortionate fees.
Salvation consists in overcoming the psychological problems ('engrams') that
get in the way of this fulfilment.
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